Sync OneDrive
Sync folders and files from OneDrive, including your company's SharePoint libraries and anything shared with you, so Centrus can answer questions from them. Each person connects their own Microsoft account and chooses exactly what to sync.
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Before you start
OneDrive is connected from the Integrations tab of Train. You need Train access to see it. Admins always have it, and an admin can give it to anyone else from Edit users and roles.
Add data sources to train Centrus
Request a custom integration tailored to your specific needs.
Our team will work with you to create a bespoke solution.
We can build custom integrations for:
- Third-party services and platforms
- In-house systems and databases
- Workflow automation tools
Import and sync your Google Drive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from Google Drive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync your OneDrive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from OneDrive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync your SharePoint documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your sites and document libraries securely.
- Import documents from SharePoint sites
- Sync specific document libraries for AI analysis
- Access team sites and communication sites
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync documents from your Dropbox.
Browse folders and tick any folders or files to sync to Centrus.
- Import documents from Dropbox
- Sync entire folders or individual files
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync your Microsoft Teams conversations to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your Teams channels securely.
- Import conversations from Teams channels
- Create AI-searchable knowledge from chats
- Keep your team's shared knowledge accessible
- 1Train, in the menu on the left.
- 2The Integrations tab, where every drive connector sits.
- 3The OneDrive card. Its badge reads Available until you connect, then Connected.
- 4Connect takes you to Microsoft to sign in.
A OneDrive connection belongs to the person who makes it. Centrus browses OneDrive as your Microsoft account, so you see the folders and files that account can open, and the syncs you set up are listed on your card only. A colleague who connects their own OneDrive sees their own syncs, not yours. The files you sync join your organisation's Train, where tags decide who can use them in chat.
Train only ever reads from OneDrive. Syncing, re-syncing and removing a sync never change, move or delete anything in your OneDrive. Google Drive, SharePoint and Dropbox connect in a similar way and have their own guides: Sync Google Drive, Sync SharePoint and Sync Dropbox.
Connect OneDrive
- 1Open Train and choose the Integrations tab.
- 2On the OneDrive card, click Connect.
- 3Microsoft's sign-in page opens in the same tab. Choose the work account that holds the files you want, and sign in.
- 4Review the permissions Microsoft lists and click Accept.
- 5Microsoft returns you to the Integrations tab, where the card now reads Connected and shows your OneDrive as a folder tree.
Import and sync your OneDrive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from OneDrive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync documents from your OneDrive.
Expand Shared Libraries for company sites (e.g. Quick access), My Files for root files and folders, or Shared with Me for direct shares.
Microsoft always asks which account to use, so you can choose a different account from the one your browser is already signed in with. The permissions cover the files your account can open and the SharePoint sites it can read. Centrus needs that reach to show you everything you could sync, but it only copies the folders and files you tick. If your organisation only lets approved apps connect to Microsoft 365, Microsoft will ask for an administrator's approval instead, and your IT team will need to approve Centrus before anyone can connect.
If the sign-in fails or you cancel it, you are returned to the Integrations tab without a message, and the card still reads Available. Click Connect to try again.
Learn More, beside Connect, opens a short summary of how OneDrive works with Centrus. It is only on the card until you connect.
Import and sync your Google Drive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from Google Drive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync your OneDrive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from OneDrive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync your SharePoint documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your sites and document libraries securely.
- Import documents from SharePoint sites
- Sync specific document libraries for AI analysis
- Access team sites and communication sites
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
How to use OneDrive with Centrus
- Connect your OneDrive account to give Centrus access to your documents
- Select specific folders you want to sync with Centrus
- Your documents will become available for AI to reference during conversations
- Sync folders whenever you add new documents you want Centrus to access
- All document types including Office files, PDFs and other formats are supported
Privacy note: Centrus only accesses files you explicitly allow by selecting specific folders
The summary says all document types are supported. In practice a sync takes the same file types as an upload, so PowerPoint files and videos are left out. The section on what syncs, further down this page, has the full list.
Choose what to sync
Once you are connected, the card shows your OneDrive as a tree with three starting points. Click a name, or the small plus sign beside it, to open it. Centrus loads what is inside as you go.
- Shared Libraries gathers the SharePoint document libraries your account can open, including sites you follow and shortcuts you have added to your OneDrive. It is a heading only, so it has no checkbox. Open it and tick the libraries or folders inside.
- Shared with Me lists the files and folders colleagues have shared with you directly.
- My Files is your own OneDrive.
Inside a folder, files are listed first and subfolders after them. Each file shows its size, and files Train cannot read are greyed out and marked Unsupported, with no checkbox. If you have just added something in OneDrive and cannot see it, click Refresh above the tree to load it again. Refresh also clears anything you have ticked, so do it before you start choosing.
- 1Open the folders you need and tick each folder or file you want in Train. You can tick items in different places, across Shared Libraries, Shared with Me and My Files.
- 2Check the bar under the tree, which counts what you have chosen, for example 1 folder, 2 files selected. Clear unticks everything.
- 3Click Sync selected, either in that bar or at the foot of the card.
- 4Keep the page open until a message at the top of the screen confirms the sync. A large folder can take several minutes, because every file is downloaded and read.
Import and sync your Google Drive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from Google Drive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
Import and sync documents from your OneDrive.
Expand Shared Libraries for company sites (e.g. Quick access), My Files for root files and folders, or Shared with Me for direct shares.
Import and sync your SharePoint documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your sites and document libraries securely.
- Import documents from SharePoint sites
- Sync specific document libraries for AI analysis
- Access team sites and communication sites
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
- 1Refresh reloads the tree from OneDrive. It also clears anything you have ticked.
- 2A ticked folder syncs every supported file inside it, including everything in its subfolders.
- 3Files Train cannot read are marked Unsupported and cannot be ticked.
- 4Sync selected copies the ticked folders and files into Train.
- 5See Active Syncs lists everything you have synced so far.
Ticking a folder takes everything in it, at every level, so there is no need to tick its subfolders or files as well. If you do, Centrus leaves them out rather than adding them twice. Files you tick on their own are synced together as a Sync Group, and every time you click Sync selected with loose files ticked, a new Sync Group is created.
Centrus opens up to ten folders a minute for you. If a folder opens and shows nothing when you know it has files in it, you have probably reached that limit. Wait a minute, click Refresh and open it again.
When the sync finishes, one of three messages appears at the top of the screen.
- A green tick means every supported file was added.
- An amber warning means the sync worked but some files were left out, with a count for each reason: the storage limit was reached, the file type is not supported, or a file could not be read. It stays on screen for eight seconds, and the same detail is kept in Active Syncs afterwards.
- A red cross means the sync did not complete. Check that the card still reads Connected and try again.
Check your active syncs
See Active Syncs, under the card's buttons, appears after your first sync and shows how many syncs you have. Click it to switch the card to the Active Syncs view, and click Back to Integration to return to the tree. The list shows your own syncs only.
Manage your active OneDrive folder syncs.
- 1A Sync Group holds files you ticked on their own. Click the plus sign to list them.
- 2Each folder shows whether it is a personal or shared folder, its path in OneDrive and its default tag, if it has one.
- 3Status is Active, Paused or Error.
- 4A warning triangle means some files were skipped last time. Hover over it to see why.
- 5The Actions buttons, explained below.
- 6Resync All re-syncs every active sync in one go.
Documents counts the files from that sync that are in Train now, and Last Sync shows how long ago it last ran. Paths start from root, which is the top of your OneDrive, and anything synced from Shared Libraries or Shared with Me is shown under Shared Libraries. A sync that ends up with no files in Train, such as a folder that only holds photos, disappears from the list the next time you open it, once it is more than five minutes old.
On most screens the table is wider than the card. Scroll it sideways, using the bar beneath it, to reach the Actions column. Hover over any of the five buttons to see its name.
- 1Re-sync checks OneDrive now and brings in anything new, changed or removed.
- 2Automatic Re-sync re-syncs on a schedule. The clock turns green when it is on.
- 3Set Default Tag tags new files from this sync for you. The tag turns green when one is set.
- 4Pause sync stops the sync for now. On a paused sync it becomes Resume sync.
- 5Remove sync stops the sync and deletes its files from Train.
Keep files up to date
Train does not follow OneDrive on its own. A synced copy is refreshed only when the sync runs again, either because you click Re-sync or because automatic re-sync is on. Each re-sync compares every file with the copy in Train and only does work where something has changed.
- New files in a synced folder are added, untagged unless the sync has a default tag.
- Files changed in OneDrive are read again. They keep every tag you gave them, so the same people can still use them.
- Files deleted from a synced folder in OneDrive, or moved out of it, are deleted from Train.
- Unchanged files are skipped, which keeps re-syncs quick.
Resync All, under the table, runs every active sync at once and then reports how many succeeded. Paused syncs are left out. Centrus accepts up to ten sync requests a minute from each person, so if you have more than ten active syncs, some will be reported as failed. Wait a minute and click Resync All again, or re-sync those rows on their own.
To have Centrus re-sync a folder for you on a schedule:
- 1In Active Syncs, click the clock on the folder's row.
- 2Choose how often to re-sync under Re-sync interval.
- 3Click Enable. The clock turns green.
Automatic Re-sync
Set up automatic re-syncing for this folder. Centrus will automatically check for changes and sync any new, updated or deleted documents at your chosen interval.
Re-sync interval
The sync will run automatically in the background. Your existing tags will be preserved.
The interval counts from the last time the sync ran, and Centrus looks for syncs that are due every 30 minutes, so a folder set to every hour is re-synced between 60 and 90 minutes after the previous run. To change the interval, open the clock again and click Update. To stop, click Disable. Automatic re-syncs only run on syncs that are Active, so a paused sync, or one showing Error, waits until you resume it or a manual Re-sync succeeds.
Turn on automatic re-sync for folders only. On a Sync Group of individually ticked files, an automatic re-sync can currently remove the group's files from Train instead of refreshing them. Keep Sync Groups up to date with the Re-sync button, or sync the folder that holds the files.
Tag synced files
A synced file arrives in Train without a tag, just like an upload. Centrus answers from files that carry the tags a chat is allowed to search, and an untagged file is hidden from everyone except admins and the person who synced it. Tag synced files on the Files tab in the same way as uploads, one at a time or several at once. Upload files explains how, and Control who sees what with tags covers who can use them.
Tags you add in Train are kept through every re-sync, even when the file has changed in OneDrive. To save tagging each new file by hand, give the sync a default tag, which is added to new files the sync brings in from then on.
- 1In Active Syncs, click the tag on the sync's row.
- 2Choose a tag under Default tag.
- 3To tag the files this sync has already brought in as well, tick Also apply this tag to files already synced here that aren't tagged yet.
- 4Click Set default tag. The tag turns green, and the default tag is shown under the folder's name.
Default Tag
Choose a tag to automatically apply to any brand-new file pulled in the next time this folder is synced. Files that already exist here keep whatever tags they already have.
Default tag
This won't retroactively re-tag files that already have a tag. Existing files are tagged in the background after you close this, so it may take a little while before they show up with the new tag.
A default tag is only ever added to files with no tag, and never replaces one you have chosen. You can only set it once a sync exists, so the files from a folder's first sync always arrive untagged. Tick the checkbox the first time you set a default tag to catch them. That runs in the background, so give it a minute before checking the Files tab. To stop tagging new files, open the tag again and click Clear default tag.
Find synced files in Train
Synced files appear on the Files tab alongside everything else in Train. Three things help you pick them out.
No manual folders yet
Cloud Folders
OneDrive653Riverside House SLA.pdfPanel commissioning sheet.docx- 1Cloud Folders, at the foot of the Folders card, groups your synced files by sync. Click a sync to list its files.
- 2Filter, then Source, then OneDrive, shows only files synced from OneDrive.
- 3The OneDrive logo beside the file icon marks a synced file.
Cloud Folders only shows syncs you set up yourself, and only while your OneDrive is connected. Click OneDrive itself to see all of your OneDrive files together. The date on each row is when the current version reached Train, so it moves forward when a re-sync brings in a changed file.
When Centrus answers from a synced file in web chat, the source it cites links straight to the file in OneDrive.
Pause, resume or remove a sync
Pause sync stops a sync without touching its files. While it is paused, its files stay in Train and in chat, automatic re-syncs are skipped, and Re-sync, the clock and the tag are greyed out. Click Resume sync to start it again.
Remove sync
This will stop syncing and remove all documents. Are you sure?
- 1A paused sync keeps its files but does not update them.
- 2Resume sync starts it again. Remove sync asks you to confirm before it deletes anything.
Remove sync deletes the sync and every file it brought into Train, along with the tags on those files, so Centrus stops using them straight away. Nothing is deleted from OneDrive. Removing cannot be undone, but you can tick the same folder again and sync it afresh, although the files will need tagging again.
A sync showing Error cannot be resumed, because its play button is greyed out. Click Re-sync instead. Once it succeeds, the status returns to Active.
What syncs and what does not
A sync brings in the same file types you can upload to Train. Anything else is either greyed out in the tree or skipped during the sync.
Synced into Train
- PDF.pdf
- Word.docx
- Spreadsheets.xlsx.xls.csv
- Text and web pages.txt.md.html
- Audio.mp3.wav
Can be ticked, then skipped
- PowerPoint.pptx
- Video.mp4.mpeg.webm
Counted as skipped, unsupported file type
Greyed out
- Images and photos
- Older Office files.doc.ppt
- Zip files and anything else
Marked Unsupported, with no checkbox to tick
- PowerPoint and video can be ticked in the tree but are skipped during the sync, and the warning counts them as an unsupported file type. Save slides as PDF in OneDrive if you want Centrus to read them.
- File extensions must be in lower case. A file called Survey.PDF can be ticked but is skipped as an unsupported type, so rename it in OneDrive first.
- Subfolders are always included when you sync a folder, however deep they go. You cannot leave one out, so if you only need some of them, sync those subfolders instead of their parent.
- Overlapping syncs are not merged. If you sync a folder and later sync the folder above it, the files they share are added to Train twice and use your storage twice. Remove the smaller sync before syncing the larger one.
- Size has no separate limit for OneDrive, but every file counts towards your storage.
Disconnect
Disconnect, at the foot of the connected card, ends your connection to OneDrive straight away. There is no confirmation step.
Import and sync documents from your OneDrive.
Expand Shared Libraries for company sites (e.g. Quick access), My Files for root files and folders, or Shared with Me for direct shares.
Import and sync your OneDrive documents to use with Centrus.
Connect with Centrus to access your files securely.
- Import documents from OneDrive
- Sync entire folders or select individual files
- Smart incremental sync preserves your tags
- Keep your knowledge base up to date
The 65 synced files stay in Train, with their tags.
Disconnecting does not remove anything from Train. Your synced files stay, with their tags, and Centrus carries on answering from them, but they stop updating and your Active Syncs are hidden. Connect again with the same Microsoft account and your syncs reappear as they were. To take the files out of Train, remove each sync from Active Syncs before you disconnect.
Pause or remove any sync with automatic re-sync turned on before you disconnect. Automatic re-syncs keep running without a connection, and at present that can remove a synced folder's files from Train.
Storage
Every synced file counts towards your organisation's storage limit in the same way as an upload: once at its own size, and once more for each extra tag. The Sources bar at the foot of the Integrations tab shows how much is used, and turns red at 90 per cent.
When a sync runs out of room, it adds the files that fit, skips the rest and shows a warning triangle under Last Sync. Hover over it to see how many files were skipped and up to three of their names. Skipped files are tried again on every re-sync, so once you have made room, by deleting files you no longer need or removing a sync, click Re-sync to bring them in. If you need more space, extra storage is available as an add-on. See Add-ons.
